How did a rabbi who founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center become a two-time Academy Award winner and someone Frank Sinatra considered his rabbi? This is the story of Rabbi Marvin Hier.
Born in 1939 and raised on the Lower East Side, Hier grew up knowing what the Nazis had done to his relatives and dedicated his life to Holocaust education and promoting tolerance. In 1977, he founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after the Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter. His work soon caught the attention of Frank Sinatra, who admired Simon Wiesenthal and became a close friend and key supporter of the Center, helping Hier build connections throughout Hollywood.
Hier later established the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and founded Moriah Films, producing documentaries that brought Holocaust history to audiences around the world, two of which won Oscars.
Over the course of his remarkable career, Hier has met with eight US presidents, four kings, three popes and the Dalai Lama. His work also brought together some of the most recognizable voices in entertainment, including Orson Welles and Billy Crystal, as well as Elizabeth Taylor, who narrated one of his award-winning documentaries.
This photo shows Rabbi Hier with Simon Wiesenthal at Wiesenthal’s 90th birthday celebration in Vienna. Wiesenthal chose the Imperial Hotel, once a favorite of Hitler, because he wanted the hotel’s history to record that a Jew had celebrated there with a kosher dinner and Yiddish music, a powerful statement about Jewish survival. As Hier recalled Wiesenthal saying, “Hitler is no longer here, but even in the Imperial Hotel, Jews are still alive and still singing.”
Today, you may recognize Rabbi Hier from his recently released Netflix documentary, The Hollywood Rabbi. Having stepped down as CEO in 2023, he now serves as Founder and Dean Emeritus of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an institution that continues his work of educating future generations and promoting tolerance.
Photo: Simon Wiesenthal Center
